Window sash constructions



.1611111964 E 11G. MMREGOR 3,116,520

WINDOW SASH CONSTRUCTIONS Filed Feb. 25, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet l '5 5645 46 .2'^!"'T\f 20 57 JMW INVENTOR.

JAM ES G. MAC GREGOR BLAIR AND BUCKLES ATTORNEYS.

Jan. 7, 1964 J. G. MaoGRx-:GOR

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United StatesPatent Oce 3,116,520 Patented Jan. 7, 1964 3,116,520 WINDOW SASH CONSTRUCTIONS James G. MacGregor, Stamford, Conn., assiguor to AMS Corporation, South Norwalk, Conn. Filed Feb. 23, 1961, Ser. No. 91,058 7 Claims. (Cl. 'Z0-52.2)

The invention relates to window sash guiding and retaining apparatus for use with removable window sash units. One object of the invention is to provide apparatus of this kind which will seal a room against drafts, in other words, which admits substantially no air when the windows are closed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a safe window construction. Many fingers have been injured by falling window sashes. Friction sash guides without balancing springs are dangerous, for the window frames expand and contract with heat and cold and humidity changes. One object of the invention is to provide a construction in which the sashes are nicely balanced by the springs, regardless of temperature or humidity.

A further object of this invention is to provide window constructions of the above character removably accommodating standard window sash units without requiring any custom millwork or special fittings whatever on the sash units.

Another object is to provide a sash guide construction giving extra leverage to the housewife when she wants to remove a sash, for to do so in any spring guideway construction, both the frictional sealing pressure and the pressure of the balancing springs must be overcome, and with former constructions, this has been difficult. And, it is an object to achieve the last object without sacrificing good sealing and good balancing.

A further object is to provide a sash guide construction affording balancing action at both lateral edges of the sash, avoiding twisting or binding of sashes balanced only on one side.

Another object is to provide window sash guides of the above character which are economical to fabricate and convenient to assemble and install.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE l is a fragmentary perspective View of a window frame with sash guides and sashes, some parts being broken away and others in dash lines the better to show the construction;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view through the window frame, the sash guides, and sashes, one of the sashes being raised and the other lowered to show a section through both sashes in one view;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged horizontal sectional plan View of the sliding sash supporting element taken on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional elevation view of the same sliding sash-supporting element, taken at the line 4-4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a view with the same orientation as FIGURE 3, illustrating an optional and desirable additional feature; and

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of FIGURE 5.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Referring now to FIGURES l and 2, the window frame 10 is shown installed in the wall of a building, with inside trim members 11, outside trim members 12 (FIGURE 2), and a sill 13. On the left-hand side of the frame 10 is a metal housing member 15 which supports a metal sash guide 16. The window sashes 24 and 25 are slidably supported in the window between sash guide element 16 and an opposing sash guide element 26 at the right-hand side of the window. The upper ends of tension springs 52 and 54 are secured to the upper end of sash guide 16, and the lower ends of these springs are joined to the lower corners of sash units 24 and 25 by carrier elements 6i) (FIGURE l). Springs 53 and 55 in sash guide unit 26 similarly support the opposite lower corners of the sash units (FIGURE 2).

The sash guide 16 is urged outwardly to the right as viewed in FIGURE 2 by coil springs 20, and its outward movement is limited by screws 21 extending through the sash guide 16 into the wood of the frame 1t). By adjusting the screws 21, the full frictional pressure of the guide 16 may be applied at both the upper and lower ends of the travel of sashes 24 and 25, or the pressure can be lessened at either the upper or the lower end of thejamb.

At the lower limit of the travel of each sash 24 and 25, the supporting tension springs 52, 53, 54, and 55 will be fully extended, producing maximum upward thrust tending to raise both sashes. To counteract this lifting force, the lowermost screw 21 near the lower end of the sash guide may be unscrewed until the outward pressure of springs Ztl creates sufficient friction between the sashes and the lower jamb to maintain the lowered sashes in any adjusted position at or near the lower end of their travel.

Similarly, the uppermost screw 21 may be adjusted until the outward pressure of springs 20 creates sufficient friction between the sashes and the upper jambs to maintain the raised sashes at any adjusted position near the upper end of their travel. lt is here that the supporting tension springs 52, 53, 54, and 55 are least extended and supply the least amount of lifting force on both sashes.

Still referring to FIGURES l and 2, on the right-hand side of frame 10 is a metal sash guide 26. This is a fixed guide for the two sashes 24 and 25, and this sash guide 26 is held in position by screws 31 extending through it into the frame 10. The sash guide 26 thus takes the resultant thrust of the springs 2) on the guideway 16 through the sashes 24 and 25, and the resulting friction tends to hold the sashes in any vertically adjusted position, open or closed.

The sash guide 16 has two pairs of guideways; a pair 34 for the sash 24 and a pair 35 for the sash 25. This arrangement makes possible the mating of the sash grooves 36 and 37 with the pair of guideways 34 and 35. Similarly, the sash guide 26 has two pairs of guideways, a pair 38 for the sash 24 and a pair 39 for the sash 25. These mate with the sash grooves 4) and 41 of the sashes 24 and 25.

The sashes 24 and 25 are removable from the guides 16 and 26, hereinafter referred to as dependent sash guides, for the guideways 34 and 35 for both sashes are formed in the same sash guide member 16, and the guideways 38 and 39 for both are formed in the sash guide 26. Thus the sash guides for each sash are not independent of each other, but integrally formed in the same guide element. The sash 24 is removed by first raising it enough so that one hand can be placed below it and the other on top of it, and then shoving the sash to the left to remove the right edge of the sash from guideway 38. In many removable sash constructions, it is difficult for a woman to draw the sash leftward far enough to clear the right-hand side of the guideway at both the top and the bottom of the sash. But, in the present construction, it is easyto do so because the pivot point of the yieldable sash guide 16 is at the outer edge thereof, near the member 12, giving great leverage to the person removing the sash.

The housing member has inwardly-extending lips 45 overlapping lips 46 of the guide 16 at the front and rear (see FIGURE 2). These provide non-binding pivots, which extend up and down the guide, so that when a person shoves the sash 24 to the left, the guide 16 pivots on the vertical line of the rear lips 45 and 46 and the right-hand side of the sash 24 easily swings inwardly, clearing the fixed guideways 38, and thus using the entire horizontal width of the guide with its dependent guideways as a lever arm to overcome the force of the springs 20.

The upper sash 25 is removed in similar fashion by lowering it and shoving to the left so that the guide 16 pivots in the vertical line of the front lips 45 and 46, making it easy to swing the right-hand side of the sash 25 inwardly clear of the fixed guideways 39.

The sliding carrier elements 6i) cooperates with the resiliently urged sash guides to balance the sashes in any raised position through the action of feet 65, seen in FIGURES l and 4. A foot 65 is pivotally mounted in each carrier 60 (FIGURE 4), with a foot end 75 projecting outward beneath the window sash, and an opposite pawl end 67 resiliently urged by the spring 70 into jamming engagement with the sash guide at point 6711 whenever the window sashes are removed from the feet 65.

The combination of the sliding carrier 6i) and the pivoted feet 65 thus support a removable sash having no special milled slots or fittings of any kind. Additionally, the carriers 60 and feet 65 may be employed in any kind of sash guide, whether made of wood, metal, 0r other material, if it is provided with a groove accommodating the sliding carrier 60. Furthermore, these feet and carriers may be employed with extension spring balances, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, or with such other balancing mechanisms as the spiral bar-torsion spring balances described in A. M. Starck et al., Patent No. 2,778,069, issued January 27, 1957.

With the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG- URES 1 and 2, the exact manner in which the sash guides 16 and 26 are made is a matter of choice in manufacture, but from FIGURES 2 and 3, it will be seen that they can readily be formed by extrusion techniques for greatest economy. In particular, the guide 16 has spring channels 16a and the guide 26 has spring channels 26a; the guide 16 has channel flanges 16b and the guide 26 has channel flanges 26b, as best seen in FIGURE 3. Spring covers 48 of aluminum or other thin sheet material lit between adjacent flanges 16b, and similar covers 49 fit between adjacent flanges 26]). The covers extend only over the upper portion of the spring channels, as shown in FIGURE 1. All of these parts together form vertical channel enclosures to accommodate verticallyextending sash balancing coil springs 52, 53, 54, and 55. These springs are attached to the tops of the channels, for example, by having clips 56, 57, 58, and 59 engaged with the top of the channel, the clips acting as flat hooks which take the downward pull of the spring.

The tension force of the balancing springs 52, 53, 54, and 55 is transmitted to the sashes 24 and 25, now to be described with reference to FIGURES 3 and 4. Thus the sashes rest on carrier feet 65 (FIGURE 4) mounted on sliding carriers 60 (FIGURE 1) which are secured to the lower ends of the springs 52, 53, 54, and 55.

Slidably mounted in each of the sash guide tubes formed by the channels 16a and 26a is a spring carrier 60 (see FIGURES 3, 4, and 5) which can be made of inexpensive plastic such as linear polyethylene. By reason of their ribs S4 and the corresponding shapes of the sash guide channels, these spring carriers are slidable but non-rotatable in their tubes. Each one preferably has a threaded head 61 integral with it, and each of these heads 61 accommodates the lower end of one of the springs 52, 53, 54, and 55.

A bearing or socket 68 is formed in the carriers 60 to match the shape of the journal portions 66 of feet 65, which are formed by slitting and oppositely upsetting the portions 66a and 66h of each foot 65. The socket 68 is thus shaped to accommodate journal 66. A seat 69 in each of the carriers 60 accommodates a spring 70 to press the carrier feet 65 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIGURE 4 to urge pawls 67 into engagement with the metal of the channels 16a and 26a. Preferably, guide elements 16 and 26 are aluminum or some other relatively soft metal. The pawl 67 penetrates the surface of guide channel 26a in solid, jamming engagement therewith. The interior surfaces of these channels hold the carrier 60 against the upward pull of the tension spring 52, 53, 54, or 55 by this jamming engagement with the pawls 67 whenever the feet are in the dash line position of FIGURE 4.

Accordingly, the sashes Z4 and 25 themselves hold the feet 65 down with the pawls 67 away from the surfaces of the channels 16a and 26a. Sashes 24 and 25 merely rest on the feet, and no milled grooves or special latch fittings of any kind whatsoever are needed on the sashes. Therefore, when a sash is lifted to be removed from the window frame, the springs 70 act to force the pawls 67 into jamming engagement with the spring channels 16a and 26a, and the feet 65 are stopped in the dash line position 65a where they can receive the sashes again. In other words, the housewife does not have the disagreeable job of pulling down the carriers 60 against the springs 52-55 whenever she wants to reinsert a sash. Instead, she finds the sash-supporting feet at the saine level where she removed the sash or sashes. During assembly, the feet 65 may be installed in and removed from the carriers 60 through the portal 82 opening outward from bearing chamber 68, as shown in FIGURE 4, with no screws or rivets or bolts being needed to hold them in working position.

Referring now to FIGURES 5 and 6, feet 65 preferably have firmly attached thereto, as by means of upset tabs 77, carrier foot ramps forming a smooth shelf upon which to slide the sashes when they are moved in or out. Ramps 80 keep the bottom wooden members of the sashes from being worn by repeated removals and replacements, and the ramps 80 can readily be bent to shape to lit a slanting sill.

It will thus be seen that there has been provided by this invention retaining, guiding, and balancing mechanisms for removable window sashes, successfully achieving the various objects hereinabove set forth, together with many thoroughly practical advantages. As many possible embodiments may be made of the above invention, and as many changes might be made in the embodiment set forth above, it is to be understood that all matter hereinbefore set forth, or shown in the accompanying drawings, is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim:

1. Sash guiding and balancing apparatus for removable sashes comprising, in combination, a sash guideway resiliently urged toward the vertical edge of a slidable sash, said guideway incorporating a vertical channel, resilient extension means positioned in said channel with one end of said resilient means being anchored to said guideway, a carrier slidably positioned in said channel and secured to the other end of said resilient means, a

sash foot pawl pivoted in said carrier and having a foot end protruding from said channel beneath the underside of the sash to support the sash and a pawl end protruding from said carrier for jamming engagement with said channel, and second resilient means in said carrier urging said pawl end into said jamming engagement whenever the weight of the sash is removed from said foot end.

2. The combination defined in claim 1, and further including a second sash guideway xedly supported adjacent the opposite edge of the sash with respective chan nel, carrier, sash foot-pawl, and resilient eiements therein, whereby said jamming engagement locks said carriers in said channels in any slidably adjusted position at which the sash is removed from the foot pawls.

3. The combination defined in claim 1, in which said carrier is provided with a socket pivotally journaling said sash footpawl therein for pivotal movement.

4. The combination deiined in claim 3, in which said carrier incorporates a portal aperture communicating with said socket through which said foot-pawl can be inserted into pivotal engagement in said socket.

5. Window frame sash guide apparatus comprising, in combination, a vertical hanged housing member, a guide having a pair of sash guideways mounted in said housing member, said guide being an integral piece forming a dependent guideway construction to guide a pair of sashes for raising and lowering and having a vertical channel for each sash guideway with a lirst spring in each said channel connected at the top to the guide, and a carrier connected to the bottom of each rst spring and having journaled therein a foot pawl incorporating a protruding foot forming a support for a first lower corner of a window sash having its edge positioned in said sash guideway, each said foot pawl also incorporating a projecting pawl positioned for jamming engagement with the guide, and a second spring mounted in the carrier and urging the journaled foot pawl into said jamming engagement, non-binding pivots including inwardly-extending lips of the housing member extending up and down the guide, one at the front of the housing member and another at the back of the housing member, with overlapping lips of the guide also extending up and down the guide, and third spring means urging the guide out of the flanged housing member, said guide being restrained from leaving said housing member by the pivots, whereby the leverage applied during sash removal urges the guide inward against the third spring means pivoting over the entire horizontal distance between the front and back non-binding pivots on the iianged housing member, and whereby said jamming engagement of said pawl prevents the first spring in the channel from elevating the carrier when the sash is removed from the frame.

6. Window frame sash guide apparatus according to claim 5, in which the foot pawl has a journal and the carrier has a bearing chamber positioned therein opening into a portal aperture, and in which the foot pawl is insertable into the carrier bearing chamber and removable therefrom through said portal aperture without the use of a screw or a bolt.

7. Window frame sash guide apparatus according to claim 5, in which the foot pawl has a sheet metal ramp of substantial width mounted on said foot to hold the sash.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,959,643 Plym May 22, 1934 2,604,655 Peremi July 29, 1952 2,778,069 Starck et al. Jan. 22, 1957 2,877,514 Mears Mar. 17, 1959 2,901,768 Decker et al. Sept. 1, 1959 2,933,757 Almendinger Apr. 26, 1960 

1. SASH GUIDING AND BALANCING APPRATUS FOR REMOVABLE SASHES COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A SASH GUIDEWAY RESILIENTLY URGED TOWARD THE VERTICAL EDGE OF A SLIDABLE SASH, SAID GUIDEWAY INCORPORATING A VERTICAL CHANNEL, RE-IDABLE SILIENT EXTENSION MEANS POSITIONED IN SAID CHANNEL WITH ONE END OF SAID RESILIENT MEANS BEING ANCHORED TO SAID GUIDEWAY, A CARRIER SLIDABLY POSITIONED IN SAID CHANNEL AND SECURED TO THE OTHER END OF SAID RESILIENT MEANS, A SASH FOOT PAWL PIVOTED IN SAID CARRIER AND HAVING A FOOT END PROTRUDING FROM SAID CHANNEL BENEATH THE UNDERSIDE OF THE SASH TO SUPPORT THE SASH AND A PAWL END PROTRUDING FROM SAID CARRIER FOR JAMMING ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID CHANNEL, AND SECOND RESILIENT MEANS IN SAID CARRIER URGING SAID PAWL END INTO SAID JAMMING ENGAGEMENT WHENEVER THE WEIGHT OF THE SASH IS REMOVED FROM SAID FOOT END. 